$40,000 Goes To University Polio Studies

University scientists will receive almost $40,000 in March of Dimes grants to continue the battle against polio, Dr. Sidney Burwell, Dean of the Medical School, announced yesterday.

The bulk of this sum goes toward perfecting a gadget which promises to do away with the cumbersome iron lung. The new device, developed by Dr. James L. Whittenberger, assistant professor of Physiology, keeps a patient with paralyzed lungs breathing by stimulating certain parts of his brain with electricity.

Dr. Whittenberger is also directing work on a "pneumatachograph," an apparatus which clocks the amount of airflow and pressure in the breath of polio victims.

Over $5,000 of the gift will be used to develop a technique of detecting polio by measuring the electricity in a patient's muscles. Dr. Robert S. Schwab '26, instructor in Neurology, and Dr. Arthur L. Watkins '31, associate in Medicine, are heading the project.

Muscle Team Play

Research on a method of training polio victims to use healthy muscles to do the job of paralyzed muscles will also receive March of Dimes support. Dr. Derek E. Denny-Brown., James Jackson Putnam Professor of Neurology, who is perfecting the scheme, points out that even the simplest actions are performed by a "team" of muscles. He feels that these teams can be taught to function even when polio cripples some of the member muscles.